Tendring

Tendring offre coste e campagne pittoresche. Dominano i piatti tradizionali inglesi, tra cui fish and chips, arrosti e frutti di mare locali come il granchio.

The Black Boy

The Black Boy

Thorpe Road, CO16 9JJ, Tendring, United Kingdom

Pubs • Full • Cafés • Steak


"Visited on a bright, November Thursday lunchtime with my parents. Have been coming here for years: this time was a shock. Menu has shrunk: now extremely limited and basic. Dad 's Ham Egg and Chips was okay, but just slices of processed ham, chips and 2fried eggs, without even a garnish pricey for that. Ma had liver and bacon: it was really good, esp the gravy and the mash; but ruined by the veg the green beans undercooked, and the carrots were absolutely raw. Shameful that there 's only one vegetarian main, and that it 's just a basic tomato and mozarella pasta; so I had that, but with olive bread. The home made olive bread was gorgeous I mean, really spectacularly good, small sticks, crisp on the outside, nice and soft on the inside, with just the right level of olivey flavour and richness. Which was just as well, as it 's all I ate. The pasta consisted of a bowl of overcooked, limp fusilli, sitting in a couple of centimetres of watery tomato sauce , with a layer of melted mozarella stuck to the bottom. The watery tomato tasted very strongly of dried herbs; and that was ALL it tasted of. It was far too watery and insipid to do more to the pasta than make it wet. The invisible cheese was only dredged up when I attempted to stir the dish, and stuck to my fork in strings so I had to wind it around and then scrape it off with my teeth to actually eat any of it. The entire dish was inedible: not just not very nice but, actually, really quite nasty. The waitress, who was lovely (the service today was as good as always , asked me why I hadn 't eaten the pasta to provide feedback to the chef , so I politely told her. I did not expect a response; but was informed a few minutes later by the, now a little uncomfortable looking, waitress that she had been asked to pass on that the chef ...had made the sauce herself and that she was ...sorry it was not to my taste . While perfectly obvious that she had ...made the sauce herself and how, I struggle to imagine who would be prepared to eat this disgraceful slop at all let alone find it tasty. I was really quite annoyed at getting this patronising, defensive response to an opinion I had only expressed because I was asked for it especially after a disappointing experience with the only main meal that I could eat off the menu. I struggled not to walk into the kitchen at this point and tell the chef to her face that, if this really is the best she can do, I would be happy spend ten minutes explaining to her how to turn a concasse of tomato into a simple, but delicious, pasta sauce; and how to then make an appetising basic vegetarian meal out of it. Though underwhelmed and disappointed (and annoyed and hungry, in my case , we pressed on to desert, which is usually excellent here. The Baileys ' Cheesecake was really rich and delicious, without being over sweet; the Lemon Meringue Roulade was good light and lemony; but my Ma thought its delicate flavour was overwhelmed by the sickly strawberry sauce drizzled over it. I 've had the bread and butter pudding here before and it is (was absolutely to die for literally the best I have ever tasted. This time, it turned out to be mostly dry pieces of rather tough white bread, layered with hard dried fruit, sugar and spices, sitting (inexplicably on a thin layer of revolting semi raw, pastry; with little evidence that any of it had seen much in the way of egg custard or butter. Again, not just not very nice but absolutely disgusting. At this point we decided to give up, skip coffee, and just pay and leave as fast as possible. They seemed pleased with themselves for not charging us for the inedible pasta; but there seemed little point in us mentioning the vile bread and butter pudding...as by then it was obvious that their (new? chef cannot actually cook at least, not to any decent, consistent, commerial standard but is also rather defensive about it. It 's a great shame, as when the food was good today, it was really excellent. But most of it was just ordinary and pretty bland; and when it was bad, it was truly terrible. Perhaps the chef was just having an off day who knows. In any case, we had travelled from Ipswich specifically to have lunch here as a treat; but after today, despite more than three decades of our family eating at the Black Boy when we visit this part of Essex, we will not be returning. I don 't suppose the chef will care, really, if her food is not to our taste ."

The At The Lifehouse

The At The Lifehouse

Frinton Road, Tendring, United Kingdom

Steak • British • European • Vegetarian


"You are slightly trapped here. Being at the spa you are not going to want to disappear off site to a local gig so there is a feeling that they have you at their mercy . My starter was the special of salt cod croquettes. Really lacking in the salt cod department and heavily over dosed in the potato section. Only 2 on the plate and small at that so disappointing. Mains was the duck breast with a caponata of vegetables.the portion was quite miserly (I suspect they achieved 3 portions out of one breast) and the vegetables bland and lacking any identity apart from their colour i.e. the carrot being orange. The ndujar Calabar dressing was split which perhaps it was supposed to be but the unforgiving element is that it had absolutely no taste at all. It gave zero to the dish. I informed the waitress that whilst the duck was succulent and well cooked, I could not praise the dish this was in response to the rehearsed is everything okay? I was given a sympathetic response and a glib I will pass that on to the chef but i absolutely felt that was not going to happen. I would quite like to have ordered the chocolate fondant dessert but as the dessert menu came after we had eaten mains and it carried a 20 minute wait warning we passed why not highlight that up front as many good restaurants do so you can make that decision ahead? In summary, I would not bother eating in the restaurant if I went there again. I would make the trip out to a local pub which would be at a fraction of the cost I suspect. Also, it was cold in the restaurant area and it is a noisy space."

The Potato Shack

The Potato Shack

90 High Street, CO14 8AD, Tendring, United Kingdom

Cafe • Vegan • Coffee • Breakfast


"Having moved some eight months ago to the east Essex coastal town of Frinton-on-Sea I’ve been visiting numerous local eateries trying to track down the breakfast Holy Grail. Stop the press as today it’s been located! I heard about The Potatoe sic Shack from another diner at Fred’s café in Frinton. This morning with my wife and daughter we walked the 2 miles, building up a healthy appetite in the process, and were warmly greeted and seated at a table of our choice, excepting for one already reserved. We sat at a window table in what is a very cosy and welcoming interior photographs attached . The Shack, as it is affectionately and locally referred to, has several tables with about thirty covers and is decorated in a stylised but pleasing fashion and was soon buzzing with patrons. The Shack has a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, it has easy wheelchair access, takes credit cards, has no customer internet, allows you to bring your own alcohol unknown if you have to pay corkage and recommends booking in advance if you want their Sunday lunch. Another patron who has been local for nineteen years couldn’t speak highly enough regards the roast dinner. A photograph of the main menu is also attached but in précis it is comprehensive and you can also go off pisté and custom build to your taste. The condiments, salt pepper, were in sachets and the sauces and mustard arrived decanted into separate ramekins. I ordered breakfast 3 see picture with the addition of black pudding and fried slice. It was absolutely delicious, perfectly cooked and well presented. My wife and daughter ordered more realistically and thoroughly enjoyed their food too. Will I return? Yes, yes and thrice yes. Will I supersize my order again? Time will tell? But presently I feel like Monty Python’s Mr Creosote. I cannot recommend that you visit this gem highly enough. It is also conveniently situated at the seashore end of Walton town for those bathers wanting repast."